Palestinian identiy in Jordan under review

Jordanian Prime Minister Awn al-Khasawneh expected an increase of six to seven seats in the House of Representatives which means the government will have 143. Khasawneh said in a press conference today that the election law bill is the property of the parliament and there is a possibility to improve it. Khasawneh said that the government does not expect that Islamists, or others, will gain a majority in the House of Representatives, and that there is no favouritism under law. The Prime Minister considered that the elections authority will have an independent and well-trained apparatus that has no links to any party. He explained that the criticism against the election law bill which came from all sides is evidence of its neutrality. The naturalisation issue of Palestinians  has attracted huge attention from Jordan's political institutions. A parliamentary committee was set up to count the number of Palestinian citizens whose Jordanian identity were withdrawn. Media reports suggest that the number may be beyond 1 million citizens of Palestinian origin, who were handed Jordanian nationality after being deported by the Israeli occupation after 1948. Khasawneh described this as a "big lie", saying that the government respects the citizens of Palestinian origin. He said that the government is working to ensure the non-withdrawal of their nationality. Jordanian newspaper, al-Arab al-Youm, said on Tuesday that the Jordanian Interior Minister, Mohammed al-Raoud, is visiting Ramallah on Wednesday, to discuss the issue of withdrawal of Jordanian nationality from citizens of Palestinian origin, together with some officials from the Palestinian authority.